Mile Posts is a running blog by Dorothy Beal. From how to train for your first 5K to funny memes on how to laugh your way through marathon training. Mile Posts is your go to place for all things running!

15

Jan 2015

Should You Delete Old Blog Posts?

January 15, 2015

I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while now…..should you delete old blog posts?

I’ve heard arguments on both sides, both make sense. I’ve read a bunch of articles I found on my trusty friend google, and can see from an SEO point of view why you might not want to get rid of old content.

However, I’m looking at this from a personal point of view and not from a company blog standpoint.

In 2014 when my husband I were having issues in our marriage there was nothing to “scrub” off my blog, because for the most part I’ve kept him and the daily lives of my kids off this blog. This was very intentional from the beginning and our issues reminded me how thankful I was for keeping our relationship away from here.

When I started this blog in March of 2009 many of my friends had mom blogs. These weren’t the type of blogs they intended to make any money off of, they were blogs where they were literally documenting their kids lives for friends and family. Back then I was niave to the blog world, but not to the real world. I’m not going to explain this in any detail – but I have known and know of people who make the word creep seem nice – for this reason alone I decided it wasn’t a good idea to detail everything that was happening with my kids. Most of my friends kept their blog on private but I wasn’t even comfortable with that.

I have however put MY own life out there for 5+ years now. I’ve written on good days and bad days. I’ve written during periods where I was over the moon happy and I’ve written during periods of depression. I’ve written posts that are completely embarrassing to read years later, and I’ve written posts I regretted the day after hitting publish. I’ve written some posts I’m proud of, don’t get me wrong, but there are posts that wow – they just aren’t me anymore…..

Come this March I will have been blogging for 6 years. 6 years is a ton of time when you are only 32.

I’d venture to say if you really asked yourself if you are the same person now as you were 6 years ago, you would say there have been some changes. Maybe those changes we as result of growing old, or growing wiser, or just complete view changes. Whatever it may be you are not the same. I like to think of myself as a continuous work in progress – mentally, emotionally and physically.

One of the arguments for keeping your blog intact is for a historical record. I’m thankful I grew up the days of historical records of your life being a photo album your mom put together. I’m glad when I was in college there was no twitter, or instagram – heck I didn’t even have facebook in college. I’m thankful for that because I’m not sure that everything I did or said, I would want the world knowing. So the historical record argument, doesn’t really do it for me – why should I have to keep things I no longer want in my life just because I hit publish?

There is a quote about being yourself unapologetically and I believe that, but I don’t think it means that you shouldn’t ever say sorry or that you shouldn’t admit that sometimes you were wrong, or said or did something totally sucky.

So what’s the point I’m trying to get to, through all this rambling…..I’m deleting old posts that I don’t want around anymore – either because I said things that were wrong, or that made me seem like a jerk, or because I no longer eat/drink/read said product – or simply because I don’t want them on Mile Posts anymore. It’s my blog so I make the rules right? So if you are poking around and notice some posts are gone, you are right. Internet sleuths will still be able to find all the old ones, and if someone wants to do that, it’s their choice, but I want a blog that I am proud of.

I want content here that stands for who I am now.

Do you have a blog and have debated deleting content? Have you ever posted something you wish you hadn’t?

Related

Comments

Thanks for linking to my post! Great perspective. Totally understand pruning posts that don’t work for you anymore. Use 301 redirects so folks don’t get a 404 looking for those. You might also like our article about different types of content to try. http://www.roundpeg.biz/2014/12/content-arent-producing/

i am just realizing some of this stuff. I am dating a man who is divorced. It seems his ex wife discovered my blog and reads it. While I love that she can get to know me even though we have never met in person I feel like it might be hard for her to see posts that I show photos of he and I together or where we are doing fun things that maybe she might be sad she isnt a part of any more. (He filed for divorce and I don’t know how she felt about that). I find it a fine line between wanting to be authentic and share my happiness with my beau and not wanting to do that at the risk of others feelings being hurt.

At one point I completely deleted my entire blog. Some people worried that I had died. Looking back, I overreacted (I was dealing with a health issue and thought I’d never run again). I wish I could get those posts and repost them again, since my blog is now active again. I try to keep my kid’s stuff off my blog as well. I’m glad you are doing what is right for you.

Hi Dolly – I actually really appreciate you leaving a comment here rather than bashing me on GOMI. I stand by everything I wrote in that post about Competitor. I did not bash their organization of RNRDC I said them charging a fee for packet pick up was BS. I still believe that and have on numerous occasions talked to the folks at Competitor Group about my feelings. That post is how I started a relationship with Competitor so I in no way regret it. When I asked them if I should delete it, they said they didn’t care if it was there at all and that even large Companies need checks and balances and for people to call them out on stuff they feel is wrong. I deleted that post after it got daily traffic from GOMI. {also just so you know – they are not my title sponsor}

I am all for constructive criticism but bashing my children or discussing how much I love them is flat out wrong. GOMI was created to call bloggers out on BS – not rip them apart because of what their body looks like. If there was a thread on there saying things about you, your blog, your body, your race times, your children – I think you might feel differently about the way that you act to others on that site. As for the post about RNRLV I did not dress down the other top finishers – YES I will 100% admit that the words I chose were not the best and the entire post was misunderstood and not taken as I intended it at all. I have already removed it from my site and it 301 redirects back this post. As a mother I would think you would understand that people make mistakes – it was a mistake writing that post….I wanted to delete it from the moment people starting reacting negatively to it. I didn’t want to deal with more hate emails from deleting it than I had already gotten from writing it. I am more than happy to admit I wish I had never written it and have apologized to people it offended. I hope that clears things up for you and I hope in the future if you have any issues with me that you will continue to either comment or email me rather than ripping me apart on GOMI. I’m guessing if you actually knew me you wouldn’t hate me as much as you do. Have a good night. Dorothy

Whoa Dorothy Whoa! In no way have I ever bashed your children or ever discussed how much you love them, I don’t know where you are jumping to that conclusion from my first comment above.

If you have a cross to burn with GOMI you should write a blog post about it, after all this is your platform where you get to write about what you want.

My being a mother doensn’t have anything to do with reading and processing blog content. Yes people make mistakes and I’m glad that you are owning up to some of your past mistakes.

I follow a ton of running blogs, I love hearing about training updates, I also love race reports.

I don’t really care for bloggers who turn into Instagram schillers. “Here’s my daily duckface Selfie after my run”…. How in the world is that supposed to motivate me to go for a run?
I run because it feels really good- I didn’t do it for the Insta.

For what it’s worth, I like your Instagram. I can assure you, for every 1 person who makes a negative comment, there’s 2 more behind her (or preferably in front of her) loving what you’re doing. Take heart in that friend;)

I believe it is your blog and you can delete any item you are no longer comfortable with. After all you would not need to keep a diary, if you have outlived it. For posts that were sponsored that might be different, but for anything else I am not seeing how it is anyone’s business but yours if you want it on your blog. And if someone does not like your blog: don’t read it!

I’m with you on this one. Good for you.
Ya I’m similarly unconvinced by the “historical record” argument. If you want a historical record, you can just un-publish the post and keep it for yourself. There’s no need to keep it on the blog forever.

Sorry- my phone cut off everything else I wrote! Frustrating! Anyway, I’ve had my blog since 2009 and to be honest I’ve never deleted a post or even considered it. It’s just never come up. I put a lot of time and thought into each post. Maybe too much time which is why I don’t post too often. (Once a week?) It takes me a while to write a post. I tend to over think blog posts, FB posts, etc. Really I do that with anything that I put out on social media.

I run a lot of races so it seems like the majority of my posts are race reports. (30 races and 30 race reports in 2014… I went a little overboard!) I try to write mine with the mindset that the RD could read them and I’d have to be ok with that. It helps tone down some things I want to say so I re-word them. Yes, obviously I’ve had frustrating race situations (disorganized, long course, etc.) and I do want to be honest to myself and to any possible readers. I think it can be done in the right way. I word it carefully in a way that the RD would get the point but at the same time I don’t want to come across as bashing their race to other runners. I never want to discourage other runners from a race because I know the race usually support a very worthy cause. When I write a post- especially a race recap it is mostly for me. It helps me process what I did and I often go back to re-read it before the next time I run it. (I run a lot of repeat races.)

Like you, I don’t post a lot into detail on my kids or my husband. I try to keep my blog more running centered. Often my kids are active in my running world so when they are I include them in race reports, etc.

Just do what you need to do. It’s an interesting blog topic though and I appreciate your honesty about it.

It’s your blog – you can do whatever you want! We all evolve over time and if something you posted previously no longer resonates with you than of course you have every right to delete it – especially if it is something that no longer aligns with your values, beliefs, etc.

Great topic, and I agree with you. I know you aren’t talking about company blogs, but my company blog is 5 years old and I made the decision to delete things that were more than 2 years old. We’ve evolved as a business and the things we wrote about back then no longer make sense for our audience. I agree– if those older posts are no longer a representation of who you are, and you don’t want to retain them for your personal use, then into the circular file they go.

Interesting topic – I’ve been blogging on one site or another since 2006, and I’ve never deleted a post. I do think it’s funny when I come across an old post where my opinion now seems outdated or naive, but I’m ok with having an evolving online opinion. (I’ve also “updated” previous posts, with a notation to that effect.) However, my audience is relatively small by internet comparison standards – maybe I would have a different opinion if I had a huge audience or if my opinions were a bit more incendiary…

I think it’s completely up to you what you do on your blog and I can see the benefit in deleting posts that no longer represent who you want to be viewed as. I also see the benefit of leaving them, because it shows how far you’ve come. I can’t say that I wouldn’t delete something that made me seem like a jerk or make me potentially unattractive to potential companies, but I haven’t had to yet. I have however went back and switched out a couple of photos in posts that included an old boyfriend because I didn’t want to see him on MY blog anymore and that’s my choice to make.

Good for you, it’s your blog do what fits you! I deleted my first blog ever, but printed it for myself as a diary. The second one is still there and I started a new one when I moved to the States. I definitely changed throughout the years! In a way I’m much more relaxed and calmer. But the thing I don’t like on blogs is that people take things so personal! Like you write something about your run, kids or husband, it’s not up to us to ventilate our opinion unless you ‘ask’ for it. Besides that there’s a person behind the blog, people should keep that in mind! So keep writing with whatever you feel like doing and I know you inspire so many women and men with your point of view on things in life! Don’t waste too much energy on haters, it their reflection on life not yours

I meant that the readers takes things personally. People like to reflect it on their own lives. The reason I like your posts is because they are ‘real’ and if people turn of their predudice switch they actually would learn from you ☺️

I love this post! I have just started bloggin and have been wondering about this a lot. I’m still figuring out where I stand on it but I completely agree with how you said that it’s your blog and you can do what you want! That’s what I tell myself when I think oh it should be more of this or that or whatever. It’s my blog and it is what it is and FYI, I love your blog the way you decide to make it!